The equation does not compute
by TADAHmon
Summary: I know, I suck. I make the few fans that this story has wait forever between chapters. That's why I decided to let you have it all at once now, so that you won't think I've fallen completely from the fan fiction scene. Enjoy, if you can. ^_^;;
1. Compute 1 Helga's dreams

Oh, I'm ever so happy! I finally get to start work on the story that I've been wanting to work for ever so long!... I reckon I shouldn't talk like Lila so much, on account of it'll drive you reader dang crazy!... Boy howdy! Why was I speaking like Stinky!?... Ahhhhh, now I was speaking like Sid! Mommyyyyyyyyyyy! *slaps herself* Hey, what do you know? Helga's slap does work to bring one back to reality. Anyhow...  
  
I do not own Hey Arnold, ok, bucko?! Now read, or you'll have a scheduled meeting at 3:15 with Ol' Betsy and The Five Avengers, mm-k?  
  
A blonde woman with the bluest eyes possible laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling, obviously just thinking. The only thing that showed that she was still alive was the fact that she blinked every few minutes and her chest moved up and down in time with her breathing. Finally, a wistful sigh escaped from her lipstick-painted lips and she swung her bare legs off of the bed, onto the peach-colored rug that extended from under her bed to the stairs that led to a balcony that looked out over the land that she owned. She stood up and walked over to the balcony, opening the door. As she looked out over this odd land, she felt a weird sensation trickle up her spine, feeling warm yet numbing cold at the same time. Arms wrapped themselves around her, warm and caring. She gasped lightly and turned around, looking at the man standing behind her. "Arnold?" she named the young man that she had loved for years with a simple whisper.  
He nodded at her and smiled, his handsome yet oddly-shaped head lighting up as he stared into her clear blue eyes. "Helga, find me. Please. I'm in trouble, and I need you."  
She sat up in bed with a deeper, anxious gasp. She felt that dream. Was it a dream? Oh, criminey! She had been having the same dream for the past week and she didn't know why. "He's in trouble, he needs me, oh, but where is he?! I haven't seen him since he found his parents in Africa!" She kicked the bed with her heels in anguish. She tried to relax, tried to catch her breath, but it was not happening. As she blinked to work the blurriness out of her sight, she squinted at the clock until it came in clearly. "2:45. Every night, that dream comes at the same time." Groaning, she buried her face in the pink pillow sham and tried to block everything from her mind. "Arnold... is fine. I am fine. These dreams will subside." Her voice was muffled, but it was enough for her roommate to hear.   
"Uh, Helga?" Amy sat up and groped for her glasses. "Now what?" Her sleep had been interrupted the past week as her friend would wake up always at fifteen minutes till three.  
"I need a drink," Helga grumbled, getting out of bed and stomping towards the kitchen.  
Amy yawned and rubbed her fingers through her thick, unruly brownish-red hair. "Ok, I'm going back to bed," she murmured, and then collapsed against her purple pillow.  
Despite the many years that had passed since Helga's days of calling Arnold "Football head" and "Hair boy", the only thing that had really changed with Helga was, of course, her looks. She was about 5'8'' and 125 pounds. Her long blonde hair streamed down her shoulders in thick strands. She had a beautiful complexion, and she had gotten rid of the monobrow in her first year of college. Most things in her closet were still pink, and of course her bed had pink sheets, comforter, shams, the works. It contrasted greatly with Amy's bed, which was decorated in quite an odd concoction. Purple pillow cases, red comforter, and blue sheets.   
Helga blinked tiredly at the contents of the refrigerator until finally deciding to drink a tiny glass of chocolate milk and then attempt to go to bed again. As the last of the brown liquid slid down her throat, she kicked the legs of the small table that she was sitting at and stared out of the window that overlooked a simple garden that Amy had been tending to on her personal times.  
Amy and Helga both held complicated schedules. They both were radio deejays, and on their off-times of that, they wrote stories to try to become famous authors. Amy wrote children's stories, and Helga wrote romance novels. Neither had succeeded in finding a publisher, however. Everyone they went to said they were lacking something and so these two made their livings as radio deejays, which was Amy's dream job at the naive age of fifteen when you tend to think that everything and anything will go perfectly for you in life. At least, that was her naive year. Helga never had the chance to have a naive year. She always thought that her life would be pointless and dull, that nothing good would happen to her, and that she'd be without love forever after... he left.  
Yup, of course, he is the guy from her dream. Arnold, Football-head, Hair boy, whatever you wanna call him. At the young and tender age of three, Helga fell in love with him, and even to this day, you can tell she kept the ever strong feelings, although she hadn't heard anything about him in years. She fought the tears as she started to daydream back to days long past. A younger her, with two ponytails sticking off of the side of her head and the famous monobrow, stared up at her friend, the young Football-headed savior that had been there for her so many times before in the past. He stood on a train platform with his two parents, staring down wistfully at her and the rest of his friends. His eyes wandered off of Helga's strong, yet saddened, face to Gerald.  
"I'll miss ya, man!" Gerald commented, holding his hand out for one last traditional thumb-wriggle.  
"Bye, Gerald." His eyes wandered to Sid and Stinky.  
"I reckon this isn't the last time we'll be seein' you, on account of you'd be a darned idiot not to return to this here town!" Stinky announced, staring past his large nose up at Arnold.  
"Boy howdy, Stinky!" Sid exclaimed.  
"Bye, Sid, Stinky," Arnold murmured, chuckling, then glanced at Phoebe and Rhonda.  
"Have a nice, safe trip, Arnold," Phoebe murmured, her black eyes misty behind her thick-rimmed glasses.  
"Isn't that lady over there just wearing the most gorgeous dress?!" Rhonda gushed excitedly, then turned back to Arnold, clearing her throat. "Uhm, yeah. Well, good luck, Arnold!"  
"Thanks, Phoebe, Rhonda. Bye."  
"Come on, son, the train is gonna ride off soon," his mom murmured, coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders lovingly.  
"Oh, ok, Mom, just a minute." He turned back to his friends regretfully. "I'll really miss you all..."  
"Yeah, well, hurry it up, would ya, Arnold! I'm hungryyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Harold exclaimed, dragging out the y for as long as he could.  
"When aren't you, Pink Boy?" Helga demanded, waving her fist in his face.  
"Uhm..." Harold thought about this as he eyed the fist that went up and down in front of his eyes.  
Arnold laughed a little as all of the kids started chanting 'fight, fight' although they knew Harold wouldn't touch Helga since she was a girl. "Um, I have to go, you know?" Although he spoke in a quiet tone, everyone looked away from the two bullies and stared up at Arnold as a varied "oh, yeah" passed over the crowd of nine year olds.  
"Heh, I guess I stole your spotlight, Bucko," Helga commented, stepping away from Harold.  
"Oh," Arnold groaned as the train's whistle blew. "I- Uh, bye, guys!"  
"Bye, Arnold!" all of the kids present chorused as their football-headed friend disappeared through the train's doors. After the train chugged down the tracks, all of the kids except for Helga, Phoebe and Gerald wandered off, probably to attempt to start a baseball game.  
The three stood around, Helga and Gerald eyeing each other at times in discomfort. Phoebe just stood, watching these two.  
"Eh, well, bye," Gerald grumbled, before casting one more wistful look at the tracks that helped his friend leave, then left himself.  
Phoebe approached Helga and scruffed her blue shoes against the ground. "Are you alright, Helga?"  
"Yeah, just peachy. C'mon, let's go somewhere, do something." Suddenly, Helga felt like if she didn't do something, she'd start to sob.   
"Coming!" Phoebe answered and followed. As the two left the train station, Helga's daydream faded away and she was staring again at the solid blue wallpaper that covered the walls of the kitchen that almost matched her eyes. Of course, Amy decorated this room too. Anything that didn't have at least one pink thing in it was done by Amy.  
The two were so different and yet so alike that it was frightening. When they met, Helga was eighteen, and Amy was twenty-four. Helga fell into another flashback, smiling slightly.  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Compute 2 Arnold's dillema

Thank ya, Maxine. You'll just have to wait to find out.  
Thanks, also, to Shinningstar24. You can be sure I will continue.  
Lemme just say, WOW! I can't believe that you read my story, and enjoyed it, M. Silvermane. May I ask what exactly was OOC with Arnold? I try not to be OOC, but with a character like Arnold, well, I've been told I've been OOC with him before. Because of all that you have said, I've taken it into consideration, and rewrote chapter 2. It is good to get truthful comments, you know? Without them, I wouldn't know the mistakes I do make. Thanks.  
  
Ch 2.  
  
Boy Howdy! I don't own Hey Arnold.  
  
  
A young man with slightly unruly hair sat, his hands and legs tied to the back of the chair that he was sitting in. As he struggled with all his might, his football shaped head came into sight. "Aw, man... I'm really in trouble here..."  
  
"You're right about that. Now why don't you be a good boy and tell us where you have all of your scientific formulas?" an evil sounding voice emerged from the darkness in a deep hiss.  
  
"Never!" he yelled, suddenly angry. "I will never tell you anything! I'm going to protect as many people as possible! That is why I got into this mess in the first place!"  
  
"Yes, I remember what you did. You messed up royally, young man." Suddenly, a very muscular man came out of the shadows that filled most of the room and punched the tied-up man squarely on the jaw, causing him to slump down in the chair in unconciousness. "Maybe when you wake up, you will have smartened up." The man left the room, massaging his aching fist. "For a football-headed freak, he really has a hard jaw..."  
  
--Dream--  
  
Arnold stood up and stared at a young woman that stood in front of a balcony. Her lovely pink dress wrapped around her, swaying around her waist as if she was moving, but he could tell she was just standing still as she stared at wherever they were at. He suddenly felt an impulse to touch her, make sure she was real, he was real, it was real. As he wrapped his arms around her, she gasped lightly.   
  
As she turned, he smiled lightly, staring into her perfect blue eyes. "Helga, find me. Please. I'm in trouble, and I need you." When it seemed as though she would speak, he woke up with a pounding pain in his head.   
  
--Fade out--   
  
Every time, that dream had ended in the same place. He had been having it for the past week, since he arrived in this cursed place, but... He called her Helga. Was she really Helga G. Pataki? The Helga Pataki that he knew since Pre-school? And knew till fourth grade? The... one that confessed her feelings to him while they were saving the neighborhood; before he found his parents and moved away from her. He shook his head and winced at the pain that surged through his jaw and head. That was one thing in his life he had meant to resolve, if not for himself, then at least for Helga. But his life had taken so many shocking twists and turns...  
  
---- Fade to flashback ----  
  
He stared out of the train window, thinking of the life he had left behind, and the life he'd have with his parents. No. He had not left that life behind. It was just on pause. He would return to it after spending a few years with his parents. They had already promised him that they all would return eventually. Hillwood. His home. The place he had grown up at, with Gerald, Harold, Sid, Stinky, Eugene, Phoebe, Rhonda, Helga and the rest. As he rested his odd-shaped head in his hands, he relaxed and pondered over the last year. It was so odd. It started off normally enough, but now many things had changed. First of all, Helga's confession. That rocked the boat, to say the least, and then he finding his parents. As he fell into a sleep, he dreamed about that night on the FTI building...  
  
----Flashback #2----  
Now he was a man of twenty four. He was in his last year of college. Scientific things were very complicated, but very appealing to him. There was a rumor going around that would make him make the mistake that caused him to be in the trouble he's in now. Apparently, a few terrorist scientists were in the city he was living in currently, where he had moved to just to go to the college, Seattle, Washington, making a fatal form of West Nile Virus which had become an epidemic in the U.S. years ago. He had kept an eye on all suspicious looking scientists in his class, and was very lucky: after following five of them to their homes or boring places like that, he followed the sixth one, who led him right through a wooded area to a secret laboratory. The scientists inside were obviously foreign. He waited patiently until one scientist left the area, and entered through the sliding door just before it closed completely. He hid in a shadowy corner that was obviously not used, because spider webs and dust covered the floor. Before the scientists left, he fell asleep. It was lucky for him that he didn't snore, because they had a few guns around, waiting for intruders. When he woke, it was near morning, and all of the scientists had left. He snuck to a cabinet and took a few viles, to test them later on. He gingerly placed them in his pocket, and returned to his ever-shadowy corner.  
  
He didn't have long to wait, because twenty five minutes later, the scientists returned. Here was his only chance of escape!  
  
He took off, running for the door, hoping to make it before it closed. He slid through, hearing the scientists curse in another language, but ignored them, and continued running. "I have to get out of here!" He panted, running through the woods, dodging trees left and right. "I wish I took track in high school like Dad wanted me to!" He stopped talking to himself then, and continued speeding past trees. He could hear guns cocking behind him, ready to shoot on sight, and he could hear the scientists mutter to themselves. "Agh!" he groaned, tripping over a low-laying vine and falling to the ground. "It won't end like this." He tried to remain optomistic none-the-less.  
  
Running footsteps sounded near-by, but they didn't pause.  
  
"What?" He tried to move, but couldn't, then realized that he had fallen into a tall field of grass that had covered most of him. He pulled his feet into the grass, and stayed there, curled into a ball, holding his breath as footsteps sounded near-by. Finally, the footsteps ceased, but he didn't feel safe enough to leave. When darkness covered the bush, and made it impossible for him to see, he decided to at least attempt escape. If he died trying, well... At least he had tried to do the right thing by trying to stop these scientists. As he scrambled quietly out of the bush, he waited for the sound of a gunshot, but nothing happened. Finally he made it back to his apartment, but didn't feel like going to sleep. He pulled the viles out of his pockets and stared at the greenish-blue liquid inside. "I will find the cure to this... I will not let many people die from this..." His mind remembered all of the viles in that cabinet, and he sighed. "I have got to find the... cure..." He fell asleep.  
  
----Flashback #3----  
  
It spread like wildfire: Scientist discovers cure to fatal strain of disease. He had just graduated from college, but already he was famous. He had found the cure a couple weeks earlier, but decided to wait till graduation to announce it. After this, the police raided the laboratory, but found just old vials and other varied things that the scientists had left behind. Now people were calling him a saviour, a rescuer, and a hero. But what he didn't realize was what a threat this would have on his life. Police had put him on their protection list, and now a police officer followed him wherever he went to keep him safe from the scientists if they should try anything.  
  
It was that day, now. He was in a restuarant, and he had a female police officer guarding him today. He felt slightly odd, a female protecting him, but he tried to act nonchalant about it.  
  
"I have to go to the lady's room, Mr-" A group of people walked by, talking loud enough to drown out her speech.  
  
"Ok, Officer Smith."  
  
"Just call me if something happens." She walked, weaving through the tables, to the bathrooms.  
  
He walked into the men's room a couple minutes later, but as soon as he entered the room and turned away from the stalls, a hand wrapped around his mouth. He realized then that the room was empty except for whomever was behind him... He elbowed the person quickly in the abdomen, then yelled as soon as the person released him. "Officer Smith!" The hand returned around his mouth, but now a rag was wrapped around the hand. "Uh, a rag?... Oh... Ether..." he groaned, falling asleep.  
  
A couple seconds later, the men's room's door slammed open, and Officer Smith stood, with her gun already drawn. "Oh, geez!" She followed this up with a curse under her breath as she noticed the one window in the room had been forced open.  
  
---End Flashbacks---   
  
And thus, here he was, all alone in this dark room, held captive by the evil scientists who wanted every one of his formulas. After a week of this place, his optomism had faded, unfortunately. He knew if he'd give up and allow the scientists to have them, many people would die, himself included.  
  
I like the double spacing... Well, that took a sudden turn, huh? My dream was weird! And it just continues getting deeper and deeper. TBC... 


	3. Ch 3 More Flashbacks

Ch. 3.  
  
Helga sighed. She had remembered... the last thing she had heard about Arnold.  
  
---Flashback---  
  
Helga stood in front of a computer, listening to Amy talk about a article she had read in the newspaper where some person had found the cure for some fatal something-or-other.  
  
"Yeah, uh, the person's name was Arnold something- there was a small rip in the page- but anyway, they also had a picture of him in there, and he had a football-shaped head. Can you believe it?" Amy asked, giggling, as she leaned against the wall, her right foot resting against the wall.  
  
"What!" Helga suddenly gasped, realizing just what Amy had said. "You... Football head... Arnold... Oh!" she exclaimed, swooning instantly. She blushed as soon as she realized that Amy was staring at her like she was crazy. "Uh... Do you still have that article?"  
  
"Uh-huh," Amy answered and threw the newspaper at her. "Well, I'm going out for a Sundae. You want something?"  
  
"No, no, thanks. I have it all right here," Helga murmured, hugging the newspaper close to her chest. "Oh, my love. Finally, after so many years, I finally hear something..." As you can tell, her feelings had not changed for him at all. She had given up the closet shrine, but she still had books of poetry all around, and a locket still hid in her shirt, ready for the next time it would be pulled out and talked to, swooned over and possibly even kissed. Helga stood up and grabbed a pair of scissors, carefully cutting out the picture of Arnold, glad to have a revised version to change. The nine year old picture of him was getting worn. She hummed light-heartedly as she swapped photos, before slipping her locket back into it's original place.  
  
---End---  
  
Helga closed her eyes and sighed again. "Where could he be right now? What would he be doing?" Her dream worried her more than she could admit. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the phone ringing. She groaned and looked at the clock. "Six o'clock? Oh, man, I'll be dead in ten hours!" she gasped, then answered the phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Helga? It's me, Phoebe..."  
  
"Hi, Phoebes. What's up?" The two were still close friends, and although Phoebe and Amy despised each other, the three would hang out every once in awhile.  
  
"Well, I have some bad news for you and I just thought I should tell you as soon as possible..."  
  
Helga's throat tightened immediately. "What, Phoebe?" She listened silently, her skin growing paler as each moment passed. "You have to be kidding me... Not him... Dang this world!" she yelled suddenly, pounding her hand against the table that held the phone's cradle.   
  
"I'm sorry, Helga. He'll be found, I'm sure of it."  
  
"No, no, no, no, NO, Phoebe. We can't expect these weak paste-for-brains goverment agent whatevers to find him. I'll do it." The old, nine-year-old, I can do anything, Helga had returned at the word that her love was missing.  
  
"What! But, Helga-!"  
  
"Don't try to stop me, Phoebe. He needs someone reliable to help him, and I'm the person for it," she answered, grimly confident. "Now, tell me every bit of news that you know," she demanded.  
  
"Ok... Well, maybe we should meet so I can tell you and we won't be traced, or anything."  
  
"Huh? You think my phone is bugged?"  
  
"Well, you never know. It could be mine even."  
  
"Ok, I'll meet you at the shop that's half way between our apartments. No one goes there, anyhow. We'll be able to keep a close eye on anyone suspicious." Helga felt oddly like a secret agent.  
  
"Ok, Mighty Falcon. Over and out," Phoebe commented, feeling nostalgic.  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Uh, bye, Grubworm," she answered, her eyes trinkling a little at the almost forgotten memory.  
  
---Thirty minutes later---  
  
Helga and Phoebe met at Gloria's Glorious Gownshop. It was a stupid little shop that sold many other things along with the gowns. A neon light with the A in Gloria's flickering like it was about to go out at any minute directed them to it.  
  
"Hi, Helga," Phoebe whispered, motioning to be discreet.  
  
Helga nodded. "Hi."  
  
"Come over here, act like you're looking at the merchandise, and I'll tell you the story."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Now, apparently, Arnold stole some hazardous bacteria that was fatal; you know this, correct?" Phoebe whispered professionally, gazing at some bottles of over-priced perfumes.  
  
Helga just nodded.  
  
"Ok. Well, anyhow, the people he stole it from must've wanted revenge. The scoop is that he was kidnapped while in a man's lavatory. When the police officer tried to find him, he was long gone. He has been missing ever since." The two moved on to a rack of earrings, hoping to look unconspicious.  
  
"When was this?"  
  
"A week ago."  
  
Helga looked startled and almost dropped the dainty golden hoops she was cradling in her hand. A week ago... When the dreams started... Oh, man, they were real.   
  
"Are you alright?" Phoebe questioned, worried.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine," Helga mumbled, immediately hiding her feelings behind a mask of intense scrutiny as she stared at the earrings in her slightly trembling hand. "I think... I want to buy these, Phoebes."  
  
"Alright. I found some I like as well," Phoebe answered, holding up a small light blue stud.  
  
"Ok. Let's buy 'em, and go to my apartment."  
  
--Ten minutes later--  
  
Phoebe followed Helga quietly into the apartment, watching for anyone suspicious that might've been following, or watching, them. "Where is Amy?" she asked, smirking slightly. Phoebe's need to be number one had not vanished completely since fourth grade.  
  
"Probably asleep. She usually sleeps till nine."  
  
"Ah." The still slightly short Japanese girl nodded and flipped her black, sleek hair behind her back, sitting down on the white chair. Her eyes shone as she flipped through a book. "Who wrote this?"  
  
"Can't you guess?" Helga wondered, staring over her shoulder at the romance novel written by her.  
  
"Yes." Phoebe was Helga's number one fan. She always felt disappointment and sadness for her friend whenever she was rejected by yet another publisher, but she knew eventually Helga would find just the right story and right publisher. "Well, anyway." She placed the book back onto the small, coffee table that was next to the chair. "You say you're going to find Arnold. Would you mind if I helped?"  
  
"Would you?" Helga asked.  
  
"Yes." She smiled brightly at her best friend. "You can't do it alone, Helga. Even mighty falcons need help at times."  
  
"What's going on?" a sleepy voice spoke up from the doorway.  
  
"Oh, Amy, uh. Can we tell her, Phoebes?"  
  
Phoebe just looked up at the tall girl with disappointment in her eyes. "Fine, Helga," she answered, then sighed resigningly.  
  
--Five minutes later--  
  
Amy sat, wide awake and wide-eyed. "You mean it!? Really? Wow, this is like something you'd expect out of the movies, or something."  
  
"I suppose that, at times, reality can be better than movies," Phoebe murmured in a monotone.  
  
"So, we have to plan this thing. I mean, Phoebes is right. I can't do this without a plan." Helga ran her hand through her hair, wincing as her fingernails snagged a knot.  
  
"Can I help in any way?" Amy inquired.  
  
"I suppose. I need help in making a plan," Phoebe suggested dully. Although she didn't want to admit it, she knew that Amy was pretty smart, and could think of something.  
  
"Yay, I'll help as much as I can," she promised, her green eyes shining intently.  
  
"Ok, that's set. Now, do we need any more help?" Helga inquired.  
  
"Yes. We don't even know what exact city they're at. I know Arnold moved to Seattle just before he was abducted, but how do we know that that's where the people who abducted him put him? Amy, why don't you try to figure out where they could be?" Phoebe suggested, wanting to send the brown haired girl on a wild goose chase.  
  
"Well, ok!" she agreed trustingly. "I'll get right on it." She left the apartment.  
  
"Now, Helga... Who could help you?" As she thought, an idea seemed to strike Phoebe. "I know! Why don't we ask Gerald? I mean, he is Arnold's best friend! It'd be perfect..." She blushed lightly.  
  
Helga just glanced at her skeptically. "Well, I'm not sure. Tall Hairboy? What's his job anyhow?"  
  
"He's a talk show host. But I've seen him," again she blushed, "and he looks really muscular, and everything. I think he'd be a stupendous help to you."  
  
"Well, I suppose, but just because I'm in an agreeable mood today." She actually loved acting like the old, terrible, nine year old Helga with the pink bow and monobrow.  
  
"Good! This is terrific..." Phoebe hummed, pulling out a cell phone. "Hi, Gerald? I need to speak to you, soon. Yes, it has to do with what we mentioned earlier. Is that still on? Good! She agreed to it... Yes... Ok, bye," she whispered, hoping that Helga hadn't noticed that part of the conversation.  
  
Helga eyed her. "You had this planned? Geraldo and you had already decided on this?"  
  
Phoebe gulped guiltily. "Yes..."  
  
Helga shrugged and sighed. "Very conniving and sneaky, Phoebes." When the half-Japanese girl started to look disappointed, in herself probably, Helga smiled and winked at her. "I'm proud of ya."  
  
Isn't that just like Helga? Well, anyway. This is shaping up pretty good, and quickly, too. I can't wait to write the actual part where Arnold and Helga re-meet! Haha! :D 


	4. One step closer

Ch 4  
  
  
Arnold winced as a click was heard and blinding light lit up the room he was in. This room was somewhat interesting to him, because it was different. Well, different from every other room he had been kept in in the past week. It was like the scientists wanted to play with him, or keep him from getting too attached to one room. What age did they think he was if they thought he would get attached to a room? The only thing he was attached to right now was daydreaming, memories and that nightly dream. If his life was going to end at any time soon, he was going to end it in the best way possible- thinking of better times. Oddly enough, the memory that he would spend the most time on was the night on the FTI rooftop, where Helga admitted her feelings to him. It always brought a slight smile to his face. "I wonder how she's doing now..." He wiggled a little, trying to get in a comfortable position. Already the tight ropes around his wrists and ankles had rubbed his skin raw, which was quite painful.  
  
One of the scientists entered the room then, eyeing him in a quizzical way. He quickly fired off a sentence in some language that Arnold didn't know.  
  
The young, blonde man remained silent, waiting for the scientist's next action.  
  
He sighed and ran his hands through his thick black hair. "Ok," he spoke finally in a thick accent. "Are you ready to tell?"  
  
Arnold eyed this man, noting that he was probably a few years younger than him. He looked about twenty four or so, compared to Arnold's age of twenty-seven. "Tell what?" he questioned, trying to stall. He had no plans whatsoever to tell these people anything.  
  
"Listen, we've taken it easy on you, but we know you have great intelligence. That is why we haven't killed you yet, but we could kill you, or you could help us with our plans." The man's evil grin caused Arnold to shiver in disgust.  
  
"I won't give you any of my scientific knowledge to hurt people!" Arnold yelled, enraged yet again. Why did there have to be people like this in the world? People that would abduct and kill people just to kill more people. It made him sick to think about it. He would not give up, though! He got in this to save people, and he would die to save people if need be.   
  
"You're a courageous one, eh? I have to give you, as you Americans say, your props," the man responded in slightly broken English, then left.  
  
"I won't give up... I won't!" Arnold grumbled through gritted teeth. "But I can't get out of here on my own... I need help. If only that dream was true, and someone knew that I needed help... But if that was so, no one would know where I was... Oh, this is hopeless," he realized, resting his head on his chest. "I won't give up, though... There has to be a way... There has to be a... way..." he murmured, falling asleep.  
  
---Helga and Amy's apartment---  
  
"Agh! I'm soooo tired," Amy murmured, collapsing into the soft cushions of the blue chair that she had claimed so long ago.  
  
"You aren't the only one," Helga answered. "I've been up since ... uh... three a.m., I guess..."  
  
"I've been up since 7... or something. Took half the day... searching for clues in what Phoebe wanted me to do... then had my shift till... ten minutes ago, of course." Amy glanced at the blue Nintendo watch on her wrist that she had since she was fourteen.  
  
"Well, did you find any?" Helga inquired, sitting up from her pink chair.  
  
"No... I'll try again... tomorrow..." She then fell asleep after stating this promise.  
  
---Dream---  
  
This time, the dream was very different. When Helga opened her eyes to the now familiar room, Arnold was standing at the bottom of the bed, staring at her. "Helga..."  
  
"Arnold. A-are you ok?" It was a stupid thing to ask, really, but she was unsure of what to say.  
  
"I will be as soon as you save me, Helga."  
  
"I-I'm trying, Arnold. I am. I swear."  
  
"I believe you, Helga." He smiled at her.  
  
---End---  
  
She gasped and sat up against the chair, her chest heaving up and down. Apparently, she had fallen out of the chair and awoke. She glanced at the clock in the semi-dark living room, and blinked. "A new time? 4:15 a.m. now?" She brushed strands of her long hair out of her eyes and focused again on the clock. Yup, it was definitely fifteen after. "What is the deal? Maybe it has to do with the fact that we're working on this plan and everything? I mean, this is weird..." As she caught her breath, she decided to go back to bed, and left the living room. It was very nice and relaxing to slip into her silky pink p.j.s, followed by bed. That night, she had one of the best nights of sleep of all time.  
  
---The abandoned building---  
  
Arnold woke up sometime after seven a.m., and immediately the dream entered his thoughts. It was such a short dream, and he didn't even have the time to take a step before it ended. It was all talk. "She said she was trying to help me. Oh, please, don't let anything happen to her... It'll be all my fault if it does!" he thought, tears in his eyes. His thoughts and emotions shocked him. Although he didn't know much about her, he could see she was mysterious, moody yet caring. The one thing about her that stuck in his mind was that she had a crush on him in fourth grade... He shook his head as if to get that thought out of his mind. "I've thought of that too much! Besides, I'm not even sure if this girl in my dream is the same Helga... I think I knew another Helga... I think... Uh... No, I didn't. Aw, man..." He was so deep in thought, he didn't even notice when the same scientist that came in late last night returned with a small serving of food. It didn't matter anyway; he would never trust these scientists enough to eat anything they offered him. Sure, he was starving, but hope still remained that somehow he would be rescued. He knew where this building was, though, and it was in some secluded woods, which was more secluded than the place where the building that he had originally broken into was at. Basically, things were not looking good for the football headed man. "I have to believe... If anything, that girl from the dream... I can believe that she's real and not some figment of my subconcious! I believe that Helga will save me!" he thought, suddenly very excited. "I will be rescued! I know you can find me... Helga..." He trusted in this girl he only saw in a dream. How was he to know she even was real? For all he knew, it could be something from his subconcious, some desire or something. "No, she has to be real!" he told himself desperately. "I believe... she's real."  
  
"Quit talking to yourself, freak," the scientist's surly voice broke into his thoughts. "Whether she's real or not, it doesn't matter. She'll never find you." Although he was unsure of what the young captured man was   
talking about, he enjoyed making him mad, and obviously this mention did so.  
  
"You don't know that! She could always find me!" Arnold exclaimed, his eyes widening in excitement and partial hysteria.  
  
"Yes, yes, keep daydreaming, young man, and maybe your Princess Dearest will come," the scientist scoffed, spitting disdainfully upon the floor.  
  
"I know she will! She will!..." Arnold waited till the scientist left the room, and collapsed against the chair. "... She has to..." he thought with as much optomism as he could muster. "Helga..."  
  
--Back at the apartment, the next day--  
  
"Arnold..." Helga murmured.  
  
Amy was getting worried. Helga had sat there, lifelessly almost, for about an hour, just staring ahead and at times murmuring his name. It was really weird, and had spooked Amy so much, that she finally called Phoebe. "What's going on?" she inquired when the Japanese girl arrived. She had never seen Helga do something like this.  
  
Phoebe just stared at Helga; it was obvious she had never seen the blonde do this, either. "Helga? Helga!" Finally she did what Amy didn't dare to do- she grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.   
  
"Uh? Phoebes? What's going on?" Helga blinked and shook her head.  
  
"Are you ok, Helga? You zoned out on us for awhile," Phoebe announced, glancing at Amy with a momentary smirk before turning back to her best friend.  
  
"Uh... Oh, yeah. I guess I'm ok. Uh... I didn't have a smoothie, did I?" she inquired, looking over at Amy.  
  
"Um, no, you didn't, Helga. You just sat down there and... didn't respond for quite a while."  
  
"Ok. Must've just been tired or something. Phoebe, do you have any plans yet?"  
  
"Well, yes, Helga. I told Gerald about them and-"  
  
"Did Tall hair boy agree to them?" Helga interrupted, smiling inwardly about the old name she had given to Arnold's best friend.  
  
"Yes, but you need to know the plan, too, Helga." Phoebe busied herself with spreading out different supersized papers on the kitchen table.  
  
Amy shrugged and started to look at the nearest one. "It's blank."  
  
"Very observant, Amy," Phoebe answered, adjusting her thinly framed glasses.  
  
She made a face in response. "So are we going to use these pages to make a map of the building, and stuff?"  
  
"Well, yes, as soon as we know the exact area of the building."  
  
"I haven't been able to find anything," Amy commented sadly. Her eyes lit up suddenly. "I know! Oh, geez! Why don't we search on the Internet for it?"  
  
Phoebe bit her lip in momentary thought, then nodded. "It could work, Ms. Williams, it very well could."  
  
Amy smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Heyerdhal."  
  
--------------  
  
Later, the two girls huddled around Amy's Gateway that her parents had given her as a present for high school graduation. "Ok," Phoebe mumbled, removing her small framed glasses to rub her black eyes, "if we do a search by state, it'll take forever, but if we search..." She pressed a few keys and clicked the left mouse key then sat back and waited. When the page had finally loaded, she shook her head. "Ok, that didn't work."  
  
"Why don't we look at a map of the area where Arnold was kidnapped?" Amy suggested thinly, running her hands through her thick hair.  
  
"Well, Amy, you're on a roll," Phoebe commented, catching her gist immediately.  
  
She yawned and nodded, feeling half asleep.  
  
"Ok, here's a map of Seattle. The article..." Phoebe paused and grabbed the crisp piece of paper off of the desk. "...said that Arnold was abducted in the restroom at Burger Ring on State Street." It was Phoebe's idea to print the actual article from Seattle's newspaper and use it for reference. "So we search for State Street and then request a map of a three block radius from this place..." When that brought nothing out of the ordinary, Phoebe requested another three block radius map from another block, keeping a close track on the Burger Ring. "If this next one doesn't show anything, I'm going to bed," she finally grumbled, feeling annoyed at this failure.   
  
"Yeah, you can sleep in my bed. I'm so tired I can't move," Amy decided, slouching down in her chair.  
  
"Oh, my gosh!" Phoebe suddenly squealed. "Look! We did it! We did it! We did!" Her excited voice woke   
Helga up and caused Amy to sit up.  
  
"Oh, you are kidding me!" Amy and Helga crowded around the computer screen, enraptured.  
  
"Look, do you see this area of land? It says an abandoned building is here. This article says that that's what Arnold broke into. We might as well check it out!"   
  
"But first we'll need to get tickets to Seattle," Helga yawned.  
  
"Yeah..." the two other girls agreed, nearly asleep as well.  
  
Ch 5 coming. 


	5. Ch 5

Ch 5.  
  
Helga, Amy, Phoebe and Gerald boarded the plane, ready to go to Seattle. The plane was impressively big on the inside. It had a row of five seats, then two seats, then five more seats each separated by aisles. All four were able to get seats next to each other. After Gerald and Helga switched seats so he could sit next to Phoebe, she plunked down next to Amy, groaning. "Makes you sick, doesn't it?"  
  
"Eh?" Amy reluctantly turned the volume down on her Walkman and looked up at Helga.  
  
"Oh, never mind. Criminey."  
  
Amy contemplated this for a minute then whispered, "Helga? Do you think we're in trouble with what we're about to do?"  
  
Helga glanced around steathily then turned back to her friend. "How would I know? Do I look like a psychic?"  
  
"No..."   
  
"Ok then." Most of the flight passed by silently with Helga sleeping, Amy daydreaming, Gerald thoughtfully planning his next show and Phoebe trying to sleep.  
  
After having another one of those dreams, Helga woke up, gasping. "How soon till we get there?" she mumbled, suddenly anxious to go.  
  
As if in answer, the pilot's voice came over the loudspeaker. "We're about to land. Please fasten your seatbelts."  
  
After fastening hers, Helga looked out the nearest window and watched for the airport building. "Finally!" she thought, feeling relieved at the sight of the roof of the terminal. "Hey, Amy! Geraldo, Phoebe! We're here!" she announced, pressing her elbow into Amy's side to wake her up.  
  
"Uh...? Five more minutes, please, Mom..." the brunette answered groggily, trying to roll over in her seat.  
  
Helga rolled her eyes and grabbed Amy's walkman, pulling the earphones roughly out of the girl's ears.   
  
"Ow!" Amy squealed, suddenly wide awake.  
  
"Glad you're awake. Now come on, we're here," Helga hissed.  
  
"Ok, ok..." The four people trudged out of the airplane, holding various kinds of luggage. Amy had a red backpack, Helga had a small pink overnight bag, Gerald had a small brown suitcase and Phoebe had a light, almost sky, blue overnight bag like Helga's. Since they were only staying for a couple of days, they had all agreed to just pack utmost essential things and leave it at that.   
  
Amy stuffed her Walkman quickly into her pack before they left the airport. "All right, what do we do now?"  
  
"Haul a taxi," Helga snipped, holding a hand out to the nearest yellow car.  
  
"Ok..."  
  
When they finally reached their hotel, Gerald left to go to his special one bed room that only people who have successful t.v. shows can afford. Upon inspection of their room, the girls had to decide how to divvy the two beds up.  
  
"Ok... How should we do this?" Amy wondered, sitting on the bed nearest the door.  
  
"Hmmm. I have an idea. Ok, Amy, your last name begins with a W, mine begins with an H, and Helga's begins with an P. Since we're staying here at a minimum of three days, we'll each get a bed to ourselves one night. This'll be my night, tomorrow will be Helga's, and the following will be yours, Amy."  
  
"Oh, all right..." Amy grumbled.  
  
"Sounds like a plan, Phoebes!"  
  
"Yes, quite a plan," Amy whispered to herself.  
  
The next day, the four split up. They were each going to tour different parts of the city and see just what they could find. Gerald was in the industrial part of town, Helga was in the park, Phoebe was in the residentual area and Amy was in a large mall that would be perfect to hear all kinds of different things.  
  
"Hey, do you need some help?" a young man asked, walking up to Amy as she browsed through some necklaces, trying to look inconspicious.  
  
"Uhm, not really..." An idea hit Amy and she suddenly held her hand out in front of him. "Uh, actually, you know, I'm really new in this town, and I was just wondering..." 'Ok, now how do I state this without looking really, really weird?' "do you know where like, some woods are? Or something nature-like? I enjoy hiking."  
  
"Well, yeah," he answered, blinking. "The nearest 'nature-like' place," he paused and winked at her, "isn't too far from this very mall. And you know, there's an abandoned building there, too."  
  
She almost fell down. 'Oh, man, what luck,' she thought, steading herself quickly. "Could you give me directions to this place?" Awhile later, she left the supersized mall and walked excitedly to the hotel, their meeting place. "Um..." She was the first there. "Aw, my silly hyper ways..." She suddenly heard a creak behind her. "Huh?" she whispered, dropping the paper and standing up, almost knocking the chair she was sitting on over.   
  
"Don't say a word and you'll be fine, understand?" she heard a voice hiss in her ear before she felt a sharp pain and blacked out.  
  
Hey, it's a cliffhanger! What do ya know? *stifles a laugh* 


	6. Ch 6

Ch 6.  
  
Amy groaned and opened her eyes momentarily but closed them again, wincing against the harsh light blinding her eyes.  
  
"Amy? Don't move too much. You got hit pretty hard," she heard and recognized Gerald's voice.  
  
"A-all right..."  
  
"Can you tell us what happened here, miss?" she heard a female's voice before fainting again.  
  
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
Helga, Gerald and Phoebe waited around the waiting room, somewhat nervous. If whomever would do that to Amy, what could be done to them?  
  
In her various glancing around, Helga noticed that Gerald and Phoebe were holding hands, subconciously, perhaps. 'Oh, my beloved, if only you were sitting next to me so that I could hold hands with thee, know that ye are safe and free.' This little poem thought was finished with a slight sigh.  
  
"Miss Pataki?" one of the nurses came to the waiting room and asked.   
  
"Yes?" She stood up hurriedly and walked over to her.  
  
"Your friend, Ms. Williams, is stable. She had a mild concussion but she's awake and fairly alert. You can go visit her but only for a couple of minutes, ok?"  
  
Helga nodded. "Thank you, nurse." Sighing, the tall blonde walked slowly into the room that the nurse was pointing to.   
  
"Helga?" Amy whispered, only half awake now.  
  
"Yeah?" She walked closer and sat down in one of those uncomfortable seats next to the bed.  
  
"Did you find the paper with the directions on it?"  
  
"What paper?" Helga raised her left eyebrow in surprise.  
  
"What do you mean, what paper? I dropped it on the floor when... Oh, no," Amy whined as it hit her, falling back against her pillow again.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Amy sighed and mumbled a little to herself. "I heard something in the apartment and stood up. Just then someone grabbed me and knocked me out. Aw, Helga, they must've taken the directions too!"  
  
"Can't you remember them?" Helga demanded, somewhat annoyed at her friend.  
  
"I guess... Lemme see..." She weakly reached over and grabbed a paper, jotting some notes down. "Here, I think that's right..." She laid back comfortably against her pillow and pressed her fingers over her bandaged head. "Have fun catching the bad guys for me, ok?"  
  
Helga blinked. "Ah, Amy, you won't be in here THAT long. Probably by tomorrow you'll be back in our hotel."  
  
"What good would I be if I have to remain in the hotel, resting?" Amy murmured, half-asleep.  
  
Helga sighed. "Just rest, ok? See ya."   
  
---next day---  
  
Sure enough, Amy had been released from the hospital on bed rest. When Helga finished getting her settled, Gerald started explaining to them that there must be another abandoned building in the vicinity.  
  
"You see, I went there late last night and there was no one there. I searched the whole place, it was truly abandoned."  
  
"Well, duh, it would be abandoned, why else would it be called the 'abandoned building'?" Helga spat.  
  
He rolled his eyes at her. "I mean, if evil scientists were hanging around there, dontcha think that they would've left some things behind? The only things I saw were cobwebs and dust."   
  
Phoebe nodded. "You do have a point, Gerald. It does seem that the scientists must have cleared out just before they abducted Arnold."  
  
"Ok, so we see that there is another building. My work was no help at all?" Amy asked.  
  
"Yes, if you didn't 'work', we wouldn't have known that this building had been abandoned again," Gerald responded.  
  
"Ok, well, I think we need to think this over and try to figure something out. I mean, there has got to be something we aren't thinking of here... but what?" Phoebe's eyes shown behind her small framed glasses.  
  
"Hmmm..." As the four sat around, thinking and pondering this, they didn't notice the silent observer that was watching from the window. He wheezed silently, fogging up the window silently.  
  
"I need some air," Helga decided after about ten minutes of uninterrupted thinking. She walked over to the window and pushed it open, feeling relieved as the air washed over her, pushing her bangs around and whipping her hair over one shoulder. Suddenly, her moment of relief was shattered as she heard a strange sound from below the window. Looking down, she spotted the young man with pale hair and a plain, almost ugly, face trying to hide below the window. "Who are you?!" she demanded, her voice rising a few octaves.  
  
He wheezed in response and then shook his head.  
  
Something about him seemed very familiar to her... "Oh, no, it couldn't be!" she exclaimed as Gerald and Phoebe joined her at the window.  
  
"Oh, my! It's..."  
  
"Oh, it couldn't be," Gerald tried to stop Phoebe from speaking the almost dreaded name.  
  
"But it is. It's..."  
  
Ah, I'm becoming a regular cliffhanger writer, eh? ^_^ I'm sure it isn't difficult at all to tell who the mysterious man is. Of course, it figures, you get one stalker who goes to save her love and now she's being stalked. LOL. 


	7. Ch 7

Ch 7  
  
Helga glared down at the unfortunately recognizable young man and opened her mouth to speak, "Ok, Brainy, what are you doing here?"  
  
Brainy looked up at her and wheezed slightly before looking over at Gerald and Phoebe who were standing just behind her at the window. "I... uh... came to help."  
  
"Help?! How so?" Helga demanded.  
  
He met her eyes for the first real time and sighed. "I heard about your, uh... friend Arnold's problem and decided to do this. I'll do any... uh... thing."  
  
She stared at him before her features relaxed. "Ok, I guess that'll be ok," she decided, staring at the tall, ever lanky, young man in front of her.  
  
He turned to Gerald and Phoebe. "I can't do much to help... uh... physically but... uh... I could help you with the planning, if you want."  
  
Curiousity overwhelmed Amy and she got out of bed, leaning against the wall for a minute to fight the dizziness that was causing her head to spin. As she finally made it to the window, the dizziness intensified until she felt like she could faint at any second.   
  
Helga turned to her. "Amy, we told you to stay in bed!" she snapped, eyes flashing in slight anger.  
  
Amy waved her off and leaned against the window frame, staring down at Brainy. "Is he another guy you went to P.S. 118 with, Helga?"  
  
"Yes, unfortunately."  
  
Gerald helped support Amy even more and started to pull her back towards the bed. "Now come on, Ms. Williams," he announced smoothly. "Back to bed you go."  
  
"Oh, ok," she grumbled, stumbling after him as he held her arm steadily.  
  
Phoebe adjusted her medium-sized glasses and peered down at Brainy. "You want to help with the planning? That's good. Since Amy is down for a couple days, we'll need you."  
  
"I am not down for no such time period!" Amy yelled, causing Phoebe to wince a little.  
  
"Whatever you say, Amy!" Gerald returned and stared at Brainy.  
  
"Ok, this is pathetic! Are we going to let him in or just continue to stare at him like this?!" Helga exploded about five minutes later.  
  
"Fine, we'll let him in," Phoebe answered, walking towards the door. A couple minutes later, she returned with Brainy following her.   
  
"Uh, hi," he wheezed louder.  
  
Helga groaned and slapped herself. 'Criminey. I have to put up with this again?'  
  
Phoebe glanced up at her and smiled briefly, guessing what was running through her best friend's mind. "Well, we still need to think about this plan, so let's get started," she encouraged. "Brainy, how well do you know this area?"  
  
"Uh, fairly well. I, uh, used to come here for, uh, summer during, uh, college."  
  
"Do you know of any abandoned buildings, other than this one?" Phoebe asked, showing him a map where the abandoned building that Amy had found was marked off.  
  
"Hmm, uh, yes, I believe there was one over here," he acknowledged, pointing to one part of the map, in the east part of town, totally opposite of the area where the original building was, in the west.  
  
"Oh. Gerald? How about you check that one out?" Phoebe requested. "And... be careful."  
  
"Oh, I will," he answered, winking at her.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
The next day, the three girls and Brainy awoke to find that, overnight, Geraldo hadn't returned. After about fourty five minutes passed, Phoebe was literally on the borderline of hysteria. "Oh, my gosh, Helga! What if something has happened to him?!" she demanded, eyes wide and skin pale. She paced around Amy's bed and rung her hands.  
  
"Phoebe, calm down!" Amy yelled, unnerved by her constant pacing. She sat up, then ducked down, just avoiding the Japanese woman's hands almost coming in contact with her face. "Dang it!" Suddenly she grabbed her pillow and hit Phoebe hard with it.  
  
The slightly shocked female stood with her mouth wide opened and her black, mussy hair streaming over her face. Finally she clamped her mouth shut and crumpled against Amy's bed, weeping into the fabric. "Oh, God, oh, God," she whispered, rocking back and forth.  
  
Amy glanced up at Brainy and Helga uncomfortably then rested her hand on Phoebe's shoulder, feeling compassion for her. "C'mon, he'll be ok. Just relax. He probably just fell asleep somewhere and will be along shortly."  
  
Phoebe finally sat up, sniffing deeply. "I suppose you could be right," she answered in a weak, tear-strained voice. She wanted to believe it... 


	8. Ch 8

Ch 8  
  
Helga grabbed her hightop sneakers and started to lace them. She had left Phoebe and Amy in the hotel room, ignoring Brainy as he followed her into the hallway.   
  
"Uh, what are you planning?" he inquired, holding his wheezing at bay for once.  
  
She shrugged and suddenly threw a device at him.  
  
"Walkie-talkies? Oh, with new, extended hearing capabilities," he remarked, looking over the box.  
  
"That's right, I'm going to check the abandoned building. We can communicate by using these babies," Helga answered, patting hers.  
  
"Are you sure that's, uh, safe?"  
  
"How should I know? I just wanna calm Phoebe down. Her constant crying and pacing ain't doing much for my nerves."  
  
"Well," Brainy started but she ran down the corridor to the elevator, "be careful, Helga. Uh..." He walked back into the hotel room and explained to the girls about Helga's endeavor.   
  
"What?!"  
  
"Are you kidding?!"  
  
"How could you let her do that!?"  
  
Oh, yes, it was going to be a fun day for Brainy. His simple face showed no emotion, but now he felt slightly stupid for letting her do it although he knew he couldn't stop her. His eyes, a pale grey color, woved from Phoebe's astounded and frightened face to Amy's amazed yet angry face. "Uh... There was no... uh... way to stop her?" he said in the form of a question finally, feeling meeker than usual.  
  
Amy slapped herself then winced. "Please remind me not to do that again, at least till my head heals somewhat."  
  
* * *  
  
  
Helga steathily looked around the second abandoned building. "It was actually fairly good luck that Brainy stalked us," she decided, "although I can't stand his wheezing. . ." Suddenly she tripped over a low sprawling vine and fell head first into a bush. "Ahhhh!" she released a loud, earth rattling scream as the ground around the bush opened up underneath her, swallowing her up.  
  
"Check it out," one of the scientists inside ordered one of his fellow helpers in broken English.  
  
The helper responded with a dull nod and left the room, heading towards a staircase that led to the basement. His quick eyes noticed the almost unconcious girl on the floor. "Stupid Americans," he grumbled, picking her up and slinging her carelessly over one shoulder.  
  
"What are you doing?! Let me go..." she managed to order before falling into abrupt, full unconciousness.  
  
A little later, Helga heard someone calling her, not by name, no, and the voice seemed kind of far away but still she heard it. Groaning, she opened her eyes and panicked momentarily. Everything was black and all she could see of anything was an outline. She whimpered briefly before her sight cleared up a little and she could see that she was in a dusty, dark room. "Ugh," she groaned, standing up shakily, feeling like she could fall at any second. She heard the voice again and her face snapped up in surprise. She hadn't heard it in a longgg time but she recognized it. "Arnold?!"  
  
The tied up man stared at her, his green eyes exploring her. "Are you ok?"  
  
"Y-yeah," she stuttered, trying to calm down.  
  
"Good. Uh, how did you know who I was?" he inquired, staring at her as if he wanted to figure out who she was.   
  
She groaned inwardly and sighed, touching her dirty, gritty hair. Of course he didn't recognize her. It had been almost ten years and she had changed... Growing up does it to a person and although she had originally thought that keeping her monobrow would keep her from looking like Olga, one day she woke up and just- needed a change. Simple as that. She tended to do things somewhat abruptly and this was one of them. Her long blonde hair was clustered in a tangled mess, covering the sides of her face and she was pretty certain that she looked pretty hideous. "I just d-do. I mean, you know, you're... you're famous," she stuttered, struggling for the right words.  
  
He glanced at her with those irritating half-opened eyes and nodded. "Oh. So what's your name? I like to know who I'm held captive with," he joked.  
  
She released a weak, nervous chuckle and tried to think of a way out of this one. "Uhm, why don't I untie you first?"  
  
"Uh... Ok. Whatever you say."  
  
As she walked behind his chair and fumbled with the thickly knotted ropes tied at his wrists, she mentally slapped herself. 'Ok, hold it together, Helga ol' girl, you can get through this, just don't let anything slip!' "Um, ok, there you go," she announced, tossing the remaining shards of rope to the side.  
  
"Thanks," he responded, flexing his wrists in an achingly fashion.  
  
Just then the door slammed open and the sound of another body thudding against the floor attracted the two blondes' attention. "Hey, Americans! You got another visitor!" one of the scientists hissed before leaving again.  
  
Helga and Arnold glanced at each other before taking a couple steps toward the third human. Arnold reached him first and, rolling him over, gasped. "Gerald!" 


	9. Ch 9

Ch 9  
  
Since they had found Gerald, Arnold's attention had been diverted from Helga and he didn't even ask her what her name was anymore. This was some relief to her although she knew it just delayed the inevitable and besides, it wouldn't be long till 'Tall hair boy' woke up and blew her cover for her. About a half an hour passed and Arnold was still sitting close to Gerald, waiting for him to wake up, while Helga lounged in the uncomfortable wooden chair that Arnold had been tied up in.  
  
Arnold, noticing that Helga was mumbling inaudibly to herself, turned to her. "Hey, you never answered my question."  
  
She gulped and played with the collar of her pink shirt nervously. "Uhm, what question, Mr. Arnold?"   
  
"What's your name?" he asked, using his endless supply of patience.  
  
"Uh, my name?" she squeaked before clearing her throat and sitting up straight in the chair."My name is..." 'Ok, Helga ol' girl, you can get yourself out of this mess. You've done it before. Just think.' "Cecile."  
  
"What'd you say?" he inquired, leaning closer.  
  
'No! You idiot! You don't want to act like Cecile again! Come on, think!' "No, sorry, that was just a slip of the tongue." She giggled nervously. "Uhm, I'm Helga."  
  
"Helga?" He eyed her closer. Longish blonde hair... blue eyes... her face was shaped a little oddly... she had unusually big ears... and she was almost taller than he. "You wouldn't be Helga Pataki, would you?"  
  
"Well, you hit the nail on the head, bucko," Helga grumbled before slapping a hand over her mouth.  
  
Arnold opened his mouth to respond but then Gerald started to groan and stir.  
  
"Ow, I feel like I've been ran over by a truck," was his first words.  
  
"We could arrange it," Helga spat, although she was glad for the interruption.  
  
Arnold helped Gerald up and sat him on another chair that they had found just hours earlier. "How do you feel, Gerald?"  
  
"Ok, I guess, man, but this headache..." Gerald gingerly touched his forehead.  
  
Helga stood up and roughly placed two fingers in front of Gerald's face. "How many fingers?"  
  
"Two."  
  
"Wrong," she answered sarcastically, moving away. "Tall-hair boy is fine."  
  
"So how did you get here, Helga?" Arnold wondered, trying to hold back a smile. I mean, what a coincidence that the three of them would be in the same place again on such odd terms. It made him feel like he was back in fourth grade.  
  
"I fell through the roof. Duh, football head, how else? The scientists found me."  
  
"Oh. What about you, Gerald?"  
  
"Same as Helga," he answered, holding his hand up for their traditional thumb wriggle.  
  
* * *  
  
Phoebe paced anxiously through the hotel room. Now she had double the reason to worry... Helga and Gerald both were missing. Brainy had told her that Helga had left earlier that day to look for Gerald and it made her feel guilty. 'Did she do it for me? Oh...' As she nervously tidied up the room, she came across the walkie-talkies that Helga had given Brainy. "Brainy! What is this?"  
  
Brainy walked in and stared at her as she clasped at the kiddie machinery. "Uh... Walkie-talkies..."  
  
"I know that! Where did they come from?"  
  
"Uh... Helga said that she'd communicate with us through them."  
  
"And they haven't been on?!" Phoebe exclaimed, noticing the off button activated. It didn't really matter because Helga hadn't even thought of her walkie-talkie. As Phoebe turned on the thing, it squealed a loud staticky transmission and the two people winced as Amy woke up.  
  
"What's goin' on?!" she demanded, sitting up.  
  
"Heh, well, let's explain..."  
  
* * *  
  
Helga, Arnold and Gerald were bored, sitting around with nothing to talk about. As she tapped her fingers over her teeth, her eyes roved around, staring at different areas of the room. A streak of red showed from under some sheaves and, standing up, she walked silently over to it. As she pulled at the wood, it broke apart and revealed her walkie-talkie. As she grabbed it and held it triumphantly over her head, Gerald and Arnold just gaped.  
  
"What," Gerald paused for emphasis and pointed, "is that?!"  
  
"That," Helga also paused hauntingly, "is a walkie-talkie. Brainy has the other one. We can communicate with them now."  
  
"Oh, yeah, now she tells us," Gerald moaned quietly.  
  
"What was that?" she demanded, holding her fist in front of Gerald's nose.  
  
"Nothing much." Gerald groaned inwardly. Almost fifteen years later and that silly fist still was turmoil.  
  
"Good." As she pressed the on button, she waited impatiently for it to work. After a few moments, the loud static was heard and her eyes widened as the two young men gulped and looked towards the locked door above their heads.   
  
Cliffhanger... 


	10. Ch 10

Ch 10  
  
"Oh, this is annoying," Amy groaned, sitting up and looked at Phoebe and Brainy.   
  
"Yeah, I kn-" Phoebe started to answer but was cut off by a squeech of static.   
  
"Ow, geez!" Amy gasped, holding her ears and grimacing.  
  
"Phoebe? Someone? Answer me, criminey!" Helga's voice emitted from the small device that was resting on the bedside table.  
  
Phoebe yelped but before she could jump for it, Amy grabbed it, since she was right next to the table.  
  
"Helga! Where are you?" No answer came. "Helga?" 'Oh, great,' Amy thought. "We've lost her."   
  
"Huh? Maybe it's just a problem with the walkie. She has to be pretty far away." Brainy took it from them and walked to another corner of the room. Phoebe glanced over at Amy, perplexed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Oh, great, of all times that this thing WON'T work!" Helga groused, tapping it toughly against the wall.  
  
"Uh, somehow, I think beating it up won't make things any better, Helga," Arnold tried to interject.  
  
"Oh, what do you know? You were the one that got us into this mess anyhow!" As these words flowed out of her mouth, the walkie-talkie released another screech and her eyes widened as she held it up to her mouth again. "Hello?"  
  
"Helga? It works," Brainy's voice came back.  
  
"Yeah, I realize that!" she grumbled. "Listen, call the police, tell them where we are. Ok?"  
  
"Ok, sure." Another squeech occupied this and he was gone.  
  
Arnold and Gerald eyed her. "Now we wait," the latter commented, resting against a box to do as he said.  
  
*~*~  
  
Brainy had gotten to the phone as soon as he turned off the walkie talkie and did as Helga ordered. As soon as he hung up, he turned around and looked at his two female counterparts. "Let's, uh, go!" he said, grabbing Amy's hand and pulling her off of the bed and out of the room.   
  
Phoebe looked around the empty hotel room and shrugged. "You ain't leaving without me!" she exclaimed, running after them.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Helga, Arnold and Gerald sat around, bored, when suddenly shouts and curses were heard above them. "What's going on?" Helga demanded, stepping behind Arnold as he took the lead in front of her.  
  
"I'm not sure," Arnold whispered, glancing over his shoulder as Gerald.  
  
"Well, maybe the police arrived," he suggested.  
  
"So soon?"  
  
"Anything is possible..."  
  
"Let's stand by the door. That way, if an officer passes, we can call for help and get out of here," Arnold suggested, glancing at his fellow abductees.   
  
"Yeah, sure, Football head, and get hit with a stray bullet, sure."  
  
"Whatever you say, Helga," he answered, sighing as he and Gerald took their places by the door. "Some things never change, huh?"  
  
"You mean...?" Gerald asked in a whisper.  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
Gerald rolled his eyes in response and rubbed his thick black hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, sure, man. Unfortunately, it's so."  
  
"What are you hair-boys talking about?" Helga demanded, walking up behind them.  
  
"Nothing, nothing," Arnold intervened.  
  
"Good," she grumbled, crossing her long arms over her chest.   
  
Just then, the door just blasted open, knocking the three down off of the stairs and to the floor below.  
  
Helga propped up on her elbows and looked up at one of the scientists who had burst into the room. Upon spotting her, he grabbed her and held her up to his height. Pulling her against the nearest wall, he held a dusty yet sharp knife up to her throat as a crowd of policemen entered the small basement.  
  
"Give it up, you lowlife terrorist," a police officer spoke up, his voice deep and rough, his eyes fierce and brooding. A wild brown moustache covered his chin and almost greying brown hair covered his head in a crew-cut fashion. He held a 9 milimeter in his right hand steadily.  
  
"Never!" the terrorist answered in clipped English, holding Helga tighter in one hand and gliding the knife nearer to her throat. She just whimpered in slight pain as the silver metal touched her delicate skin but suddenly she felt a rush of desperate adrenaline as she glanced over at Arnold, who was leaning against the stairs and watching this unfold with a dazed look on his face.   
  
Taking a deep breath, she readied herself for what may come and elbowed the scientist in the gut, and, as he dropped the knife, grabbed his arm and slung him in front of her, before falling away from him and scampering to Arnold and Gerald's side as the police grabbed the terrorist.  
  
"Ah! The knife! I'm sitting on the knife!" he gasped before they pulled him up.  
  
"Heh... You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do say will be held against you in a state of law. If you can't afford a lawyer, one will be given to you..." And thus his Miranda rights were read and he was pushed out of the building as the three abductees followed.  
  
Arnold brushed his wayward hair out of his eyes and sighed, getting his first sight of sunlight in weeks. "Well, I'm glad that's over..."  
  
"Me too, man, me too," Gerald responded, winking as Phoebe joined him.  
  
"Oh, Gerald, you look awful... uh, dirty," she finished hastily so as not to offend him.  
  
"I know." As they walked off, Helga and Arnold was joined by Brainy and Amy.  
  
"Amy, I thought you were told to stay in bed?"  
  
"Ah, who could? I wanted to see this end and meet Mr. Football head in person so nyah on that," the brunette responded, her green eyes flashing.  
  
"You've been talking about me, eh, Helga?"  
  
"In your dreams, Football head," she responded, looking down as she remembered their dreams and tried not to blush.  
  
He also remembered the dreams and grinned gently. "So, Brainy, what was your part in this rescue operation?"  
  
"I, uh, called the, uh, authorities," he answered, proud despite his wheezing nervousness.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No, uh, problem." Brainy took the opprotunity to leave then and Amy glanced at Helga and Arnold.  
  
"Uh, well, I think I'll go too! Helga, we've got to get home by tomorrow! Our boss'll be sooo mad!"  
  
"I know, I know!" Helga groaned. "Bye, Amy."  
  
"Bye!" she yelled back, running off.  
  
Arnold chuckled and turned to Helga. "Boss? What's your job?"  
  
"Well, you know how Nocturnal Ned used to do Jazz?"  
  
"Yeah, on MJZZ. Why?"  
  
"Someone bought that station out and made it a little bit of everything station."  
  
He stared at her. "How does that work?"  
  
"Eh, we play everything! Techno, rap, pop, older music, Alternative. Like I said, everything!"  
  
"Well, that must be different, and a lot to keep track of."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
As they walked through the wooded area, Arnold thought of the happenings of the last hour. "Hey, what made you get the courage to elbow that guy and get away?"  
  
"I dunno. Just seemed like a smart thing to do." She looked away, peeking out the corner of her eye at him and brushing some hair out of the side of her face, smiling gently to herself.  
  
"Oh. Yeah. It was... very... smart." He finally took the time to look her up and down and smiled a little when he noticed a small pink bow tied around her wrist. No, it wasn't the big bow she wore when she was five but a simple bow made out of pink ribbon.  
  
"Hey, Arnold!" her voice abruptly shook him awake.  
  
"What?" he inquired.  
  
"Uh. How've you been doing these past years?" she asked nervously.   
  
"Pretty good, except for the last year or so," he responded, grinning.  
  
"Oh, heh, yeah."  
  
"How about you?"  
  
"Oh, uh, I've been good, too..."  
  
"What're you doing in this part of America?"  
  
"My... room mate and Phoebe decided to take a vacation and Brainy and Gerald just happened to be here."  
  
"Uh-huh... A lot of coincidences there, Helga."  
  
"Well, so what? You calling me a liar?" she demanded, stopping and holding her fist out to him threateningly.  
  
"Oh, come on! We aren't nine anymore. Why are you still acting like it?"  
  
"Huh?" She thought for a minute and then sighed. "Ok. I see. You want me to act my age, eh, Football head? Well, ok, ARNOLD, I will!" She clarified his name in exaggerated terms and suddenly pulled him close and wrapped her arms around his neck before staring into his eyes again and then her lips gently hit his as she kissed him deeply and then continued it, closing her eyes as he started to return it and then she finally moved away and sighed slightly before staring at him nervously.  
  
His eyes were the size of small saucers but as he caught his breath, he gulped and then neared her as she stood silently, her eyes following him anxiously. Cupping his hands around her face, he leaned over and kissed her gently, making the magic of a first real kiss last longer. They had both completely forgotten about the emotional minefield they had been tiptoeing around the past two months... or longer, for Helga... 


	11. Epilogue

EPILOGUE.  
  
Arnold was safe so Helga, Phoebe, Gerald, Brainy and Amy all returned to Hillwood. Months had passed before they heard anymore about Arnold but the five was hanging around a park one day, enjoying a picnic. Brainy wouldn't have been there but Phoebe felt pity for him.  
  
"So, heard anything from Arnold, Gerald?" Amy inquired, eyeing her hamburger.  
  
"Yeah, a few days ago. He's good." Gerald bit into his burger before continuing, "In fact, he's gonna go on vacation. After everything, he needs it."  
  
"Oh. Where is he going?" Phoebe inquired.  
  
"Didn't say."  
  
"Ohh."  
  
Helga then spoke up. "So, did you chuckle-heads hear about the case against those terrorists?"  
  
Amy nodded. "Yeah, they got fingerprints on the doorknob of the hotel room we were staying in and one of themn were their's."  
  
"Did they get an extra sentence for that?" Phoebe inquired.  
  
"Well, just for stealing the deadly chemicals and being proven terrorists, they're either getting life or death row, it hasn't been decided yet. But they probably would've gotten attempted murder on both Arnold and I..." Amy paused suddenly as a tall, blonde man walked up.   
  
"Someone mention my name?"   
  
"Arnold?!" Gerald demanded, standing up quickly. They did their little thumb-wiggle and then Arnold sat down. "Man, what are you doin' here?!" his best friend continued.  
  
"Ah, you know how vacations are." He smiled over at Helga, who was surprisingly silent. She managed a weak smile back. "Besides, I'm tired of big cities."   
  
"What're you going to do then?" Amy inquired, picking her burger back up.  
  
"Well, I'm moving my lab to Hillwood."  
  
"Seriously?!" Gerald finally exclaimed, wide-eyed.  
  
"Oh, great, we're stuck with the Football-head again," Helga announced but she was just kidding and she smiled at him when he laughed lightly.  
  
"That's right, Helga," he said, staring directly at her.  
  
Amy started to giggle lightly and her room-mate glared at her. She grew solemn again and looked innocently back at Helga.   
  
Weak, I know. Take what you can get. This wasn't even planned until a couple minutes ago. 


End file.
